Brendan Rodgers says Dorus De Vries Orchestrated the game for Celtic

Brendan Rodgers claimed the controlling nature of goalkeeper Dorus de Vries lay behind the Celtic manager dropping Craig Gordon for the Hoops' 4-1 win over Aberdeen at Parkhead.

The Celtic boss gave a debut to 35-year-old Dutchman De Vries, who recently signed a two-year deal from Nottingham Forest having worked with Rodgers at Swansea.

And although he was beaten by an Adam Rooney strike after Leigh Griffiths had opened the scoring in the first half it mattered little as the home side stormed to the top of the Premiership table.

Midfielder James Forrest restored Celtic's lead in the 42nd minute and with three minutes remaining Scott Sinclair grabbed the third with a penalty with Dons defender Mark Reynolds sent off for picking up a second yellow card after bringing him down. Midfielder Tom Rogic added a last-gasp fourth.

Rodgers said: ''I always say my teams need to play with control from behind in order for us to play how I want us to play and have that speed and domination in the game. And I thought Dorus came in and did very well. He had one loose pass but apart from that, he is able to orchestrate the game from behind. But overall I thought he and the team were outstanding. I just always think if you can control the game and build the game from behind well, then you will control and build in other areas. The quicker it goes forward from behind the quicker it comes back at you, and that has always been my thought. I want to reiterate, Craig Gordon has been fantastic since he came here. In fairness to him, there has been a lot of unfair focus on him. Dorus knows how I work inside out and I am sure Craig Gordon will get an opportunity again. Whether that comes the next game, or after, he will be better for this way of working.''